New Bar: Nixon Hotel

It calls itself Melbourne's newest football pub, and being staggering distance from the Telstra Dome certianly doesn't hurt it. You'll find The Nixon "diagonally opposite Gate 3 of Telstra Dome" tempting you with a variety of drinks and eats. Deck of Secrets says "The Nixon’s broad range of local and international brews should provide ample satisfaction for pre- and post-game revelers." Click here for their review or visit the official website.

New Review: 1806

It seems Melbourne can't get enough of 1806 at the moment, thanks to winning the world's Best Cocktail Menu they've managed another high-profile review. Michael Harden has reviewed 1806 (Exhibition Street, CBD) for Epicure and concludes: "This bar takes itself seriously but never loses sight that drinking cocktails is fun. It is, unlike [Tom] Cruise and [Bryan] Brown, a winning combination." Click here for the full review.

New Bar: Baba

When I hear "Section 8's swanky uncle" as a description for a bar, well, I'm interested to say the least. Deck of Secrets has reviewed the new bar Baba on Lygon Street, Brunswick East, and they seem impressed. "Baba is an elegant restaurant and bar hybrid of the Levantine theme... clean modern furnishings, a graffiti inspired mural along one wall and ample legroom." Click here for their full review or visit the official website (with menu) here.

New Review: Handsome Steve's House of Refreshment

Hidden in the Abbotsford Convent is the lovingly titled Handsome Steve's House of Refreshment, which Kirsten Law describes as "charmingly off-kilter evening, complete with kitsch decor, in possibly the smallest space in Melbourne". Click here for the full Epicure review.

New Review: Church Street Enoteca

Kirsten Law writes for Epicure: "Fine dining of the traditional European type is the norm here, but if you're a Richmond local starved of nice places to take your visiting friends or family, Church Street Enoteca could come in handy." Click here for the full review.

New Review: Von Haus

"Von Haus taps into a demographic that likes good food and booze and is not afraid to pay for it." And in so few words, Michael Harden has once again set the background of another excellent bar review. Reviewing Von Haus (Crossley Street, Melbourne) for Epicure he describes retro decor, European eats and a small space that is "uniquely Melbourne". Well worth the read.

New Rooftop Haunt: Sarti Outdoor Terrace

Russell Place has a new Rooftop bar above the well-respected Italian eatery Sarti, according to Deck of Secrets. "For a classy rooftop tipple, check out this quaint laneway haven atop a renowned Melbourne restaurant. Sarti’s outdoor terrace is simple and elegant – an undercover patio with an elevated dining area extends out to a more casual umbrella and park bench setting, potted plants and there’s even a wood-fire oven!" Official restaurant website and the full Deck of Secrets review!

New Alley Life Reviews

Since we last posted about the blog Alley Life, they've added seven new reviews - which we'd like to share with you.

MOO (Money Order Office) (Little Bourke Street, CBD)
"Situated in the Basement of the historic money order office; MOO boasts a sizable wine collection, an intimate restaurant and a location that shows how a classy basement bar should be done. I’m reluctant to tell people about this place because I want to keep it to myself (and friends), but its too good not to share." Read more.

Revolver (Chapel Street, Prahran)
"Time is a foreign concept inside Revolver as not matter what time of the day or day of the week it is, the party is always only just starting." Read more.

The Lounge (Swanston Street, CBD)
"In the wee early hours of the morning, when everything else is closing, The Lounge is still offering up somewhere to keep the night going." Read more.

Double Happiness (Liverpool Street, CBD)
"This tiny little bar brings a little bit of Asia and its love of utilising small spaces to Melbourne." Read more.

Borsch, Vodka & Tears (Chapel Street, Windsor)
"Be it for a drink or for food, this widely renowned restaurant brings a little bit of Poland to Chapel Street for all to experience." Read more.

Recorded Music Salon (Collins Street, CBD)
"Recorded music salon is somewhere unimposing that allows you to kick back and focus on catching up without having to think too much, all the while enjoying a good cocktail." Read more.

Section 8 (Tattersalls Lane, CBD)
"In M.A.S.H. Klinger’s way out was with a Section 8, which was the discharge the army handed out for the mentally insane during the war. Section 8 takes its name from this, while showing that one is needed in order to create something so left of field, yet so successful." Read more.

New Bar: La Vita Buona

Deck of Secrets have discovered Gerard Anderson's latest bar, La Vita Buona, in the City Square (Corner of Collins and Swanston Streets). "La Vita Buona, Italian for 'the good life' is bar, deli and cellar so you can drop by on the way home to collect a nice bottle of wine for dinner or stay for a glass and a snack." Designed by Six Degrees, La Vita Buona, is the third bar from Gerard Anderson who also runs the nearby Caboose. Click here for the full Deck of Secrets write-up.

Street View drunk identified

The man in the Google Street View picture that made it to the front page of popular social-news website Reddit five days ago has been identified by The Age. The picture was submitted to Reddit on August 6, and quickly received 154 up votes before being removed by Google.

The submission received 29 comments on the internationally-accessible website, including "Since it's Australia I'm surprised there's only one guy" and "For some reason, as soon as I saw this, I knew it would be somewhere in Victoria. Possibly because my uncle used to live near there."

Tongue-in-cheek speculation about the identity of the lone man on a Lakes Entrance street started quickly. "Oh that's Drunk Phill, the town drunk. He's there from 8-5, Monday-Friday." Thanks to journalists at The Age we can now report who the man actually is.


His name is Bill
Well, kind of, The Age has decided to help the man regain some of his privacy and elected to use the pseudonym Bill. Apparently Bill had been drowning his sorrows over the weekend after attending the funeral of his best friend, who died recently in a freak boating accident. The Friday funeral, and subsequent drinking, had left the man feeling "worse for wear" on the morning of February 4. "Come Monday morning, I got out of the taxi and rolled over on the grass and went to sleep on the footpath", he said.

What does Bill think about the international exposure? "I'm not too happy about it - I mean, I shouldn't have been there in the state that I was in but I wasn't really thinking there would be someone driving past with a video camera on the roof filming me either."

Source: The Age

New Reviews: Melbourne's Alley Bars

I like stumbling across venue reviews, I especially like stumbling across a trove of venue reviews I haven't seen before - and thanks to my recent discovery of the blog Alley Life I'm quite happy with my erratic web browsing (or virtual stumbling, as I sometimes prefer to call it). Macca and Rob are the hosts at the blog Alley Life, and aim to "expose the secrets of the vibrant Melbourne night life to residents and visitors". Here is a selection of their top rated bars:

1806 (Exhibition Street, CBD)
"There are many ways to draw a crowd into a bar, cheap drinks, food, nights for the 'ladies', 1806's hook is to offer patrons the ability to try cocktails from the first known use of the word..." Click here for the full review by Macca.

Cookie (Swanston Street, CBD)
"Cookie is an experience that certainly must be had and is without a doubt one of my favorite bars in Melbourne, especially for the extensive beer list..." Click here for the full review by Macca.

Seamstress (Lonsdale Street, CBD)
"I like to think of myself as a bloke, so when presented with the idea of going to Seamstress I was a bit sceptical. I spent the time working out how a cocktail bar based around sewing could work. However upon entering the colourful cocktail bar on the 2nd floor, I wondered why I had been weirded out so much..." Click here for the full review by Macca.

Murmur (Warburton Lane, CBD)
"This small cocktail bar hidden away off Little Bourke Street is well worth a visit for their menu, which is real experience for the taste buds..." Click here for the full review by Macca.

Robot (Bligh Place, CBD)
"On nights when Robot isn’t busy, this tiny bar will successfully export you from the inner city of Melbourne to the streets of Tokyo." Click here for the full review by Macca.

They've currently got 16 reviews on their website and I reckon all of 'em warrant a look. Alley Life.

New Bar: The Bird Cage

Brighton has a new bar, The Bird Cage, with quite a few "feathery inspired" cocktails on offer according to Deck of Secrets. "Concentrating on tasty tapas and grazing style dishes, it’s split into five separate sections including a main bar, lounge area and dining room, as well as side-walk seating and a private function space." Click here for their full description.

Jim Beam apologises for stalker ads

Today's Age is reporting spirits company Beam Global Spirits and Wine closed their website The Neighbours after upsetting health groups and the government. The website was a part of a television advertisement linked to an "even racier website" intended to promote Jim Beam. According to The Age the website contained a woman washing dishes topless and was accused of treating women as sex objects and promoting stalking. James Sykes, marketing director for Beam Global Spirits and Wine, admitted that the site had been shut down because it was "unacceptable".



The Jim Beam move has reignited debate about alcohol companies needing regulation for Internet-based advertising campaigns. The current process of self-regulated advertising code requires print and broadcast advertisements to be pre-vetted by an independent panel - Internet promotions are currently exempt from these measures.

Source: The Age

Herald Sun: Lockout pushed back to 3am

The Herald Sun is running a story that the 2am lockout could be moved back an hour, to create a permanent 3am lockout across Victoria. Tony Robinson, Consumer Affairs Minister, is said to be considering the option while John Brumby, Premier, said no decision would be made ahead of an evaluation of the existing trial. The Herald Sun believes a 3am lockout is "backed by key sections of the liquor industry".

Source: Herald Sun 1 & 2

Police powers increased

Friday onwards, Police will have the ability to ban people for 24 hours in the precincts of Fitzroy, St Kilda, Ballarat, Geelong and Warrnambool for being drunk and disorderly. For more serious offences Police can apply for a court-order banning individuals from an entertainment zone for up to a year. The move follows on from the successful testing in Melbourne's CBD and Prahran. People banned for 24 hours won't incur a criminal conviction and the infringement will be excluded from a criminal history check. Breaching a 24-hour ban carries a penalty of up to $2,202. The measures are intended to reduce alcohol-related crime, The Age believes this move could signal an end to the existing lockout measures.

Source: The Australian & The Age

1806 has the world's best cocktail list

First we heard about it from Deck of Secrets, then The Shout picked it up, and now The Age is talking about it too. Melbourne's cocktail bar 1806 (Exhibition Street) has taken out the prestigious Best Cocktail List award at the sixth-annual Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans, USA. The award puts the amazing 1806 cocktail menu - containing a drink from every decade since 1806 (when the word cocktail was first recorded in print) - as the world's best cocktail menu. It makes 1806 the first Melbourne bar to receive an award from the festival.

According to The Age, Owner Sebastian Reaburn thought the win also highlighted Melbourne's growing reputation in the cocktail business. "People in the industry now talk about New York, London and Melbourne as the best cocktail cities in the world."

New Review: Cumulus Inc

Joining the Deck of Secrets and ThreeThousand reviews of Cumulus Inc (Flinders Lane, Melbourne) is Clem Bastow with her recent review for Epicure. "If you want good design that isn't alienating, fine wine without stuffiness, and great, unpretentious food, Cumulus Inc. is just the ticket." Click here for the full review.

VB "too cold" at international beer festival

And in a fluff piece for The Age, David Wroe reports from Berlin "you can get it eating bratwurst. You can get it wearing lederhosen. But German beer lovers, it seems, didn't quite get it at all." Click here for the full story.